The vast majority of newborn babies will not sleep through the whole night, needing to be fed every 2 to 3 hours. Some mothers will awake to breast feed their infants for a period of time, switching over to feeding their newborn cow's milk, formula, or other liquids eventually. Other mothers, caregivers and guardians do not have the capability to breast feed their infants due to insufficient breast milk production or otherwise, or they may simply choose not to breast feed their children. Many of these other mothers, caregivers and guardians and many mothers who have switched from breast-feeding to bottle-feeding or are otherwise introducing a baby bottle to their infants will rely on infant formula rather than breast milk to feed their baby.
Bottle feeding infants can be inconvenient, however, as before the infant can begin drinking the milk or formula from the bottle, the contents must be correctly prepared. For example, the contents of the baby bottle must be at a correct temperature so as to be warm enough that it is desirable for the infant, but cannot be too warm so as to have the potential to scald or burn the baby. Additionally, if infant formula is being fed, the infant formula must be fresh in order for it to be appealing to the infant, and so it must be created in small batches right when the baby wishes to be fed. This can be problematic, as a caregiver may not know that the infant requires to be fed until the infant is already crying, and preparing infant formula or milk in a bottle at the desired temperature and such that it is fresh can be difficult with a hungry and crying baby.
Infants tend to prefer warm liquids, perhaps because they are soothing and ideal for their developing stomachs and because such warm liquids can mimic the warmth of breast milk that is naturally warm. Heating infant formula or milk can take several minutes using a microwave, stove top, or placing the bottle in running warm water so that heat transfer between the warm water and bottle contents can occur, which can be very frustrating and upsetting for a caregiver who is trying to feed their fussy or crying infant.
Preparing infant formula can add to this frustration, as it creates additional steps to preparing the bottle contents. It is important to measure out the formula powders and any additional liquid accurately so that the final product concentration is able to achieve its intended purpose for nourishing the infant; otherwise the infant may go malnourished. Additionally, all equipment that comes into contact with the infant formula must be clean and sterilized so as to avoid contaminating the prepared formula and making the infant sick. In order to properly prepare the formula, sterilization steps must occur and then preparation of the formula itself must happen by opening the jar, measuring out the correct amount of milk, water or other liquid, adding the correct amount of formula powder or liquid to the other liquid, and then mixing the same together. Such extra steps only increase the amount of time the crying infant needs to wait in order to be fed.
Some conventional devices and methods for quickly and safely warming milk and milk substitutes in a bottle include bottle warmers that plug into a wall socket and have a warm water bath into which the bottle containing the milk or milk substitute will sit until the contents are warmed. However, turning on the warm water bath until the water bath is warm enough to warm the bottle contents can be time-consuming, and then it takes even more time to have the bottle warmed from sitting in the water bath. Otherwise, the warm water bath can be set so that it is consistently warm and ready to receive a bottle; however, this wastes electricity during the time that there is no bottle that requires warming. The requirement to measure and mix formula can further cause delays in feeding a hungry and crying infant and requires the caregiver to put the infant down while preparing the infant formula. The entire process can take several minutes, which can be frightening for the baby and frustrating for the caregiver. Additionally, these bottle warmers require a water bath and an electrical socket to warm the water bath, making them bulky on a kitchen countertop or in a diaper bag and difficult to use when a caregiver is away from his or her home and a readily available source of electricity and water.